Washington Post: Trump Only Thinks About One Thing

Prison “is always creeping into” his thoughts. He is “constantly referencing jail or crimes punishable by time inside a cramped cell.”

And if you get on his bad side, he will recommend you be imprisoned, wrote Kyle Swenson of the Post in “The ever-growing list of people Donald Trump says should be jailed.”

This is not about empathy for “two members of his inner circle – Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort – [who] are looking at serious prison sentences. Rather, Trump’s mind is constantly zeroing in on allegations and felonious innuendos related to his enemies. It seems that if you are on the president’s bad side, jail or prison is where you belong.”

The story was prompted by President Trump’s retweet of an image of various players in the Spygate/Clinton email scandal – Robert Mueller, John Podesta, Rod Rosenstein, Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin, James Clapper, James Comey, former Presidents Obama and Clinton and Eric Holder – behind bars. “Now that Russia collusion is a proven lie, when do the trials for treason begin?” the copy over the picture reads.

The Post asked Trump why he would choose an image of Rosenstein, who is the deputy attorney general in his administration. “He never should have picked a special counsel,” Trump said.

Later, he drove home the same point. “What follows is a by-no-means-complete list of the figures the president has publicly said should be jailed or investigated or has accused of committing high crimes and misdemeanors – allegations that seem to have no basis in reality.”

The first person Swenson uses as an example of Trump’s allegations of criminality having no basis in reality is Hillary Clinton. “’Lock her up’ chants are still a fixture at Trump’s rallies,” he wrote. “Just weeks before the presidential election, then-candidate Trump tweeted: “Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted and should be in jail. Instead, she is running for president in what looks like a rigged election.’”

Swenson admitted Hillary was “an easy target for Trump’s attacks.” From Filegate to Travelgate to stealing china, flatware, rugs and furniture as she departed the White House to creating a homebrew server to avoid Freedom of Information Act requests to accusations of influence peddling, Americans have waited nearly 30 years for the legal hammer to drop on her.

The second example Swenson uses is the Obama administration. Swenson pointed to a tweet last June by Trump that read: “The Obama administration is now accused of trying to give Iran secret access to the financial system of the United States. That is totally illegal.”

Swenson said Trump also wanted Comey in prison and ordered the Justice Department to prosecute both him and Hillary Clinton and based that accusation on an anonymously sourced New York Times story that has not been confirmed by any other news outlet.

Trump also referred to John Kerry going to Iran to tell the hostile regime there to wait out Trump as having taken part in “illegal meetings.” And he called for the investigation of Andrew McCabe, who was fired from his post as No.2 at the FBI and referred for criminal prosecution by the Senate for allegedly lying to further the investigation into Trump over Russia collusion.

Finally, it took Trump to task over his reaction to Snoop Dogg, the hip-hop legend, pointing a prop gun that fired out a ‘BANG’ sign at a Trump caricature. Trump tweeted: “Can you imagine what the outcry would be if @SnoopDogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired the gun at President Obama? Jail time!”

The Post wrote, “The president suggested it was a criminal offense.”

Brian McNicoll

Brian McNicoll is Editor of Accuracy in Media. He is a former newspaper editor, think tank writer and Capitol Hill staffer, is a conservative writer and editor in Reston, Va.